ability to erect rapidly the fleshy traits is restricted to a single, well-supported lineage that includes species such as the wild turkey Meleagris gallopavo and ring-necked pheasant Phasianus colchicus.
#Turkey snood skin
The naked skin on the snood, head and upper neck serve another purpose: heat dissipation in summer. The colors of the featherless skin on a gobbler’s head and upper neck is important for signaling its mood to other turkeys. When the bird is nervous the snood contracts. Many species in the avian order Galliformes have bare (or ‘‘fleshy’’) regions on their head, ranging from simple featherless regions to specialized structures such as combs or wattles…. The snood can be elongated when the gobbler is displaying and in hot weather. Both hens (females) and toms (males) have caruncles. Species within the Phasianidae (pheasants, partridges, guineafowl, grouse and turkeys) are well known for extreme ornamental traits, including fleshy regions around the head and neck…. Captive female wild turkeys prefer to mate with long snooded males, and during dyadic interactions, male turkeys deferred to males with relatively longer snoods. Answer (1 of 4): Do you mean the red lumpy part of the neck That’s called caruncles. “ A multigene phylogeny of Galliformes supports a single origin of erectile ability in non-feathered facial traits,” Journal of Avian Biology, vol. Braun of the University of Florida explain at least part of the story, in their study: (The snood photos we reproduce here are from the Homegrown Hobby Farm blog.) Rebecca T. What’s the origin of facial erections in turkeys? The snood - the long fleshy appendage above the beak, is what erects, becoming red as it engorges with blood.